Tavon Austin is proof that big-time talent can come in a small package. His 4.28-second speed in the 40-yard dash is just one of the reasons he is a projected top-10 pick in the NFL draft, which starts Thursday. Al Diaz, The Miami Herald

Maybe Tavon Austin is too small at 5-foot-8½ and 174 pounds to do only one thing in the NFL.

But fill his to-do list, pile the duties high, and Austin is big enough to be the best multitasker on this year’s draft board, a projected top-10 pick because he brings so much to the football party beyond what the measuring tape says.

“A lot of teams are looking for a guy who can do multiple things on the football field,” said Austin, a West Virginia product. “I think I’m that guy.”

A lot of teams are looking for that guy, but the list is short for those considered do-it-all talents. They are the R guys — runners, receivers and returners — and the good ones are a fundamental problem for defensive coordinators.

Two players are considered the benchmark — Seahawks newcomer Percy Harvin and the Packers’ Randall Cobb. Harvin has four 60-catch seasons in his NFL career, has averaged 6.4 yards per carry as a runner and has returned five kickoffs for touchdowns.

Cobb, who played quarterback and wide receiver at Kentucky, caught 80 passes in 2012 — his second year in the NFL — to go with a kickoff return for a touchdown and two career punt returns for touchdowns.

“The more weapons you have on offense, the harder they are to defend,” said New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

Austin is hard to defend. Some scouts believe the team that drafts him will have to be careful not to exhaust him, because he can do so many things.

The exclamation point: West Virginia’s 50-49 loss to Oklahoma last season. Austin finished with 572 all-purpose yards, a total that included a West Virginia-record 344 yards rushing on only 21 carries. Austin gained 395 all-purpose yards in the second half. “It kind of reminded me of my high school days,” he said. “That was the first game I played running back that whole year.”

Austin’s combination of blazing speed (a 4.28 time in the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine), awareness and fast-twitch elusiveness has NFL offensive coordinators drawing up possibilities for him.

Tennessee wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson caught 46 passes in 2012, his only year with the Volunteers. He turned one of his four punt returns into a touchdown and returned a kickoff for a touchdown. As a junior college player in 2011, Patterson averaged 48.2 yards on 10 kickoff returns and 11.8 yards per carry as a runner to go with 61 receptions.

“The things I did in college, I expect to come in as a rookie and be a good rookie and be a Pro Bowler,” Patterson said.

Texas wide receiver Marquise Goodwin finished 10th in the long jump at the London Olympics last summer. He was a seven-time track All-American and played in 50 games for the Longhorns. Considered the fastest player in this draft, he had four 26-catch seasons at Texas and was the team’s primary kickoff returner much of that time.

Denard Robinson, who starred at Michigan as a quarterback, is trying to enter the NFL as a runner, receiver and returner. Robinson holds the NCAA career rushing record for quarterbacks and showed teams at his pro-day workout that he has potential as a punt returner.

“I want to be that multi- purpose guy,” Robinson said. “I want a team to think the same thing. I just feel like the more you can do, it gives you a better chance of them asking you to do something.”

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